Story Links The Broncos have won the doubles point in nine of their 17 matches this season, thanks in part to the top pairing of Bluett and Kim, who have an 8-5 record in dual match play. They have the team’s only nationally ranked doubles win of the season. Aside from Winter, two more Waves […]
The Broncos have won the doubles point in nine of their 17 matches this season, thanks in part to the top pairing of Bluett and Kim, who have an 8-5 record in dual match play. They have the team’s only nationally ranked doubles win of the season.
Aside from Winter, two more Waves are riding extensive win streaks heading into this weekend. Playing at the third position for the second time this season, Lasse Poertner is riding a seven-match win streak — all of which were in straight sets. Last Thursday, Poertner beat No. 123 Max Westphal 7-6 (4), 6-2 for his first win over a ranked opponent. His doubles partner Aleksa Pisaric has won his last three matches in the fifth position, giving the Waves another underclassman who has recently found success.
Earlier this season, the Broncos challenged themselves by choosing then-No.12 Kentucky for their ITA Kickoff Weekend region, but the Broncos came up empty-handed against the Wildcats and then Nebraska in the consolation match. Santa Clara is 0-3 against Power-4 teams — all were sweeps — and just one win over a ranked team. Santa Clara’s postseason fate hinges on picking off one of the WCC’s top two teams, so this will be a big match for the Broncos.
So far, Santa Clara is 5-1 at home and 1-1 in conference play. The Broncos’ lone loss was a sweep at No. 7 San Diego last week, yet they picked up their first conference win with a 4-2 victory over No. 73 LMU. Prior to Sunday’s match, the Broncos will host Portland on Thursday morning, yet Pepperdine will come in well-rested on a 10-day break between its last dual match.
The match will be livestreamed for free via PlaySight. All pertinent information can be found on the men’s tennis team’s schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
Picked to finish fourth in the West Coast Conference preseason poll, the Santa Clara Broncos have been in the second tier of conference teams lately. Last year, the squad went 19-8 and earned a berth in the UTR Sports NIT Championship, where they fell to Tulsa in the second round. This year, Santa Clara appears to be in a similar spot: The Broncos rose to as high as No. 60 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings and are currently slotted 71st.
Head coach Adam Schaechterle‘s squad is riding high after another memorable top-10 home win last week, which saw sophomore Edward Winter upset the defending NCAA singles champion Michael Zheng before Linus Carlsson Halldin clinched yet another high-stakes match. Along the way, Edward and Hugh Winter picked up their second ranked win over Columbia’s No. 35 pairing of Zheng and Nicolas Kotzen, giving them the WCC Doubles Team of the Week award.
Yet again, Pepperdine and San Diego are on a collision course for both WCC titles. While it’s easy to write off the rest of the WCC matches, doing so would be foolish. Just ask San Diego, who dropped a match to Pacific last season and effectively ruined its chance at a top-eight seed. Losing focus in these matches can be costly.
Elsewhere in the lineup, the Broncos have three players with a team-high eight dual-match wins: Luca Bluett, Tiago Boschmans and John Kim. All three men are lower-lineup players.
SCOUTING THE WAVES
WHAT’S NEXT
Coming off a memorable 4-1 win under the lights over the No. 9 Columbia Lions last week, the No. 19 Pepperdine Waves will shift their focus to conference play starting this week.
With six of the Waves’ seven remaining regular-season matches against WCC teams, the objective for Pepperdine is simple: win out. If the Waves take care of business during conference play, they will stay in the hunt for a top-16 seed in the NCAA Tournament — or more, depending on how the matches against San Diego shake out.
Speaking of Edward Winter, the sophomore is coming off his 6-3, 7-5 win over No. 1 Michael Zheng. He is playing the best tennis of his collegiate career. The Australian has won his last six matches — three of which were against ranked players — and six of his last seven. Ranked 28th in the nation, Winter is a lock to rise even higher when the next ITA singles rankings come out next week. His 11-4 record in dual match play leads the team, plus his 11 wins are already an improvement over his freshman season.
MATCH 18: #19 Pepperdine (11-6, 1-0 WCC) vs. #71 Santa Clara (10-7, 1-1 WCC) | Sunday, March 30 | 12 p.m. PT | Degheri Tennis Center | Santa Clara, Calif.
Pepperdine returns to Malibu to face Pacific on Friday, April 4 at 2 p.m. All pertinent information can be found on the men’s tennis team’s schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
Santa Clara has no nationally ranked singles players or doubles teams. Former UC Santa Barbara Gaucho Alexander Watanabe Eriksson is atop the singles ladder, and he is responsible for the team’s only ranked singles wins. Earlier this season, he was ranked 104th in the ITA singles rankings, yet he comes into the week on a four-match losing skid. He has a 7-9 record in dual match play.
MALIBU, Calif. — After rising to a season-high No. 19 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, the Pepperdine men’s tennis team resumes West Coast Conference play at No. 71 Santa Clara on Sunday at noon.
Pepperdine leads the all-time series over Santa Clara 26-1, with its lone loss coming in 2018. The Waves are a perfect 7-0 at the Degheri Tennis Center, plus they have won the last five matches against the Broncos.
ACROSS THE NET
